


Tablet Six

by Megkips



Category: Epic of Gilgamesh, Fate/Zero
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-09
Updated: 2012-04-09
Packaged: 2017-11-03 07:52:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/379069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megkips/pseuds/Megkips
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“A goddess’s will means nothing here,” Gilgamesh says in return.  “She does not rule Uruk nor will she humiliate me through using the Bull of Heaven to cause drought and starvation.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tablet Six

“You should not have done that.” 

Enkidu’s words hang heavy in the air, and it takes some time for Gilgamesh to acknowledge them. The servants, still cleaning up the King of Heroes’ bath, pick up their pace ever so slightly, careful not to slip on the slick stone floors nor make eye contact with each other. They know the usual course of a disagreement between Enkidu and Gilgamesh, and it usually involves carefully stepping around broken pottery and messy sheets.

“Pardon?” Gilgamesh says, adjusting the towel around his waist. “Did you just say to me that I should not have done something?”

“I did, and I repeat my words,” Enkidu replies, his eyebrows knitted together and eyes lingering where Ishtar stood only moments before. “You should not have rejected Ishtar as you did.”

“Should I have not?” Gilgamesh turns to his friend, his own face amused in contrast to Enkidu’s concern. “Tell me then, why should I have consented to my own demise, hm? Which of Ishtar’s lovers has been returned to their lives when the goddess grew tired of them? You know their stories as well as I do. Would you have me stuck in the underworld with Tammuz or sitting beside the bright-speckled roller bird?”

“And what of those that refuse Ishtar, King of Heroes?” Enkidu snaps back. “Tell me their stories.”

“There are none,” Gilgamesh says simply. “We do not know their fates.”

Enkidu nods in satisfaction. “Reflect on that.”

***

No more than four hours had pass between Enkidu’s conversation in Gilgamesh’s bath when Enkidu finds himself stuck in a crack up to his waist where there had once been a street. He yelpsin surprise at the ground’s attempt to devour him, then looks up when he hears the gasps of all around him.

High on the great walls of Uruk is a magnificent bull, both terrifying and beautiful . It is bigger than any other bull, with horns of lapis lazuli that, if made into cups, would hold four hundred gallons. Only by the grace of Shamash are Uruk’s walls supporting the animal's weight, and when Enkidu stares at it, he understands the purpose of this creature and it's identity. From within his hole, Enkidu groansin exasperation.

At Enkidu’s groan, the bull’s head perks, prompting the creature to leap off of Uruk’s walls and land beside Enkidu. The Bull of Heaven lowers its face to snort at Enkidu, giving Enkidu all of a moment to grab the bull’s horns and hoist himself out of the ground. In response, the Bull of Heaven spits in Enkidu’s face, then turns to leave. 

Enkidu, seized by concern for whom the Bull of Heaven is truly intended for, grabs its tail and tug, only for the Bull of Heaven to spew dung in its wake. From behind Enkidu, a voice laughs.

“Dear friend, keep fighting!”

Such arrogant laughter could only belong to one man, and Enkidu looks over his shoulder to find Gilgamesh grinning at the scene. The grin becomes wider as Gilgamesh noted the mixture of annoyance and exasperation on his friend’s face, then offers Enkidu a knife. “Together we are sure to win.”

Enkidu holds up a hand, refusing the offer. Gilgamesh nods. “The Euphrates River has dropped ten feet and many other marshes have dried up. You are also not the only one to fall into the ground – we have had three hundred warriors fall into similar holes.”

“Ishtar means to humiliate you,” Enkidu says, “To prove that you are an unfit king.”

“A goddess’s will means nothing here,” Gilgamesh says in return. “She does not rule Uruk nor will she humiliate me through using the Bull of Heaven to cause drought and starvation.”

Without any more words, Enkidu circles the Bull of Heaven and seizes it by the tail, placing his foot on its haunch. The motion happens so quickly that those watching in the street can barely follow the motion – all they know is that one moment the Bull of Heaven was ready to snort again, and the next moment Gilgamesh has thrust his knife between the shoulders and the base of the bull’s horns.

The Bull of Heaven falls over without protest, compliant with the will of Gilgamesh. It’s legs stop moving and heart stops beating soon after, only for Gilgamesh to open the bull’s chest and cut out its heart, holding it above his head as an offering to Shamash. 

From above on the walls of Uruk, the wails of Ishtar in her distress echo throughout the city, recapturing Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s attention. “Not only did Gilgamesh slander me,” the goddess cries out, “Now the brute has killed his own punishment, the Bull of Heaven!”

Enkidu takes the knife from Gilgamesh’s hand suddenly, causing his friend to look at him in surprise. Without explaining himself, Enkidu removes one of the bull’s thighs and takes it in his hands. There is no reverence in the action though, not like with the bull’s heart, only malice. Enkidu stands slowly and turns to face Ishtar’s weeping figure on the walls, and then throws the thigh of the Bull of Heaven right towards the goddess.

The bull’s thigh flies in a magnificent arc and smashes into Ishtar’s face, smearing her makeup and blinding her eyes with blood. She does not need to see who threw the meat to know who threw it, for the moment after the thigh hits her face, a loud, joyous laugh echoes throughout all of great walled Uruk. 

“If only I could catch you, this is what I would do to you! I would rip you apart and drape the Bull’s guts over your arms!” Enkidu calls. His bright smile is threaded through his words and he laughs harder as Ishtar continues her laments. 

Soon Enkidu’s laugh is accompanied Gilgamesh’s, for there is no more comic a sight than a goddess whose plans had been destroyed by mortal men. For the failure to be literally thrown in her face adds new level of satisfaction.

“You should not have done that,” Gilgamesh chokes out between his breaths. All of great walled Uruk now laughs at Ishtar. “For if this is what Ishtar does to those who refuse her--“

“There is only one Bull of Heaven, oh King of Heroes,” Enkidu says back, smiling brightly. “We are safe.”

 

FIN.  
NOTES  
*This fic is set within the midst of Book VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh and draws on his characterization from Fate/Zero (and Enkidu's appearance in the same canon)  
*There is a very bad tendency of Enkidu to tell Gilgamesh not to do something, and yet when it’s done Enkidu is the one who pushes things to the extremes, such as encouraging Gilgamesh to kill the monster Humbaba despite his earlier protests that it would be a bad idea. Enkidu’s not great with consistency.  
*Several lines are taken directly from Stephen Mitchell’s 2004 translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh. This translation is NOT a very good translation in regards to accuracy, but I enjoy it because it is poetic and concentrates on the storytelling.


End file.
